New York’s police privacy law has kept the public in the dark about acts of misconduct, even crimes, committed by police officers entrusted with safeguarding Long Island’s communities. Officers have shot innocent people, falsified official reports, manipulated DWI arrests to increase overtime pay and lied to district attorneys and investigators. Occasionally an officer’s poor behavior… Continue reading For their eyes only
Tag: Pulitzer Finalist 2014
Beaten
Kevin Turner fled into the backyard of a Bellport home in April 2010 with marijuana and PCP in his bloodstream and two Suffolk County police officers in pursuit. The officers caught Turner by a chain-link fence and, in what they later reported was an effort to subdue a combative subject, severely beat the unarmed 19-year-old.… Continue reading Beaten
Always Right
A Nassau County police officer shot an unarmed man in the back. Another intentionally ran down an unarmed man with his squad car, costing him a leg. Still another shot an unarmed cabdriver after a night of drinking off duty. In each case, department investigators reviewed the use of deadly force and reached the same… Continue reading Always Right
The Southampton Tapes
Lt. James Kiernan, one of the Southampton Town Police Department’s top officials, faced internal affairs investigators in March 2012 with an audio recorder capturing his answers and his credibility on the line. At issue was when Kiernan knew that Police Officer Eric Sickles was abusing prescription pills and what he did to address it. The officer’s addiction… Continue reading The Southampton Tapes
Unjustified
An off-duty Nassau County police officer unlawfully shot and beat an unarmed cabdriver in Huntington Station after a night of drinking in 2011, according to an NCPD Internal Affairs Unit report. The report, obtained by Newsday, found that officer Anthony DiLeonardo recklessly escalated a roadside verbal dispute when he shot at cabdriver Thomas Moroughan five times with a… Continue reading Unjustified